An oil painting by abstract artist Vasudeo S Gaitonde set a new world record for Indian artwork when it sold for a whopping Rs 29.3 crore ($4.4 million) at a Christie's auction in Mumbai on Tuesday.
'I would not be running had it not been for the army.' 'I learned to value my time only after I was posted in Kashmir.' 'I was posted there for three months. In those three months I learned everything about life.'
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
'The court came to a conclusion using one person's case... Based on that one case, the term "rampant misuse" was used as if it is a generalisation.' 'If one in 10 cases turns out to be false, is it possible to call the Act a charter for blackmail or charter for personal vengeance?' 'Is there any Act either in India or anywhere in the world where there are no false cases?'
National carrier Air India became part of the 27-member global airlines grouping Star Alliance, as budget airline AirAsia India launched operations and Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara received the flying permit and announced its intentions to start operations from January 9.
Tarun Vijay on why the victory in Uttar Pradesh belongs to Narendra Modi and the road ahead.
'There is a difference between the US burger and the Indian vada pav. She should have done some research or watched at least one episode of Bachao before she came on the show.' Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza host Krushna Abhishek reacts to the controversy.
In the couple of hours that you spend in the riot-hit city you find it is not the BJP that is asking for the votes of an excited section of Hindus, but it is the people who are clinging to Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended.
'Does the government help ordinary citizens like you and me with our marriages, birthdays and anniversaries?' Rashme Sehgal reports on the controversy over the the Art Of Living Foundation's plans for a cultural festival on the Yamuna floodplains.
'Don't let anybody tell you that Kadvi Hawa is a manifesto for the fight against climate change or that it's an austere, unforgiving movie.' 'This is an intensely felt, beautifully expressed piece of cinema,' says Sreehari Nair.
GIFT is a financial centre almost entirely devoid of bankers and, indeed, of people.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf spends a week in Goa in pursuit of his favourite dish, and discovers a few other things about the state as well.
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
Even as the community and the country struggle to come to terms with this attack, stories of survival emerge.
Here's a closer look at Farah Khan's latest movie.
Dum Laga Ke Haisha is so simple that it never gives you a single moment of unpredictability, writes Raja Sen.
'If policy-makers hold the lives of animals to be more significant than the welfare of a human populace, I can't believe that they're likely to do anything progressive for India.'
Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on Nitish Kumar, saying the Janata Dal-United leader's "arrogance" and "ambition" to become prime minister drove him to split from BJP, and compared the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in Gujarat and Bihar to claim he practised "true" secularism.
"This wasn't an attack over meat. He has been killed in the name of religion. This is a pre-planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an accident," said Owaisi.
The fever of banning meat spread on Thursday with such directives being issued in Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmedabad.
One of the most prolific filmmakers of his time, VB turns 50 August 4!
With a rise in the clout of Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh, fearful Hindus are being radicalised.
'The Parivar's ideology and politics was and remains the very opposite of what Dr Ambedkar stood for.'
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
'No lives should be taken during Paryushan.' 'When fish is taken out from the sea it is dead, hence no ban on it.' 'They hang the meat in shops and those who are fasting are pained by this sight.'
Intensive training and meticulous planning have gone into the making of Dangal.
'The Congress, all these decades, worked on a slow Hindi-isation and Indianisation of Arunachal tribes. The RSS wants rapid Hinduisation,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'It's not only holy reverence that drives them to such vigilantism -- there is adventure too.' 'Some of the younger gau rakshaks enjoy the thrill of the chase: Stopping vehicles, wielding weapons, badgering passengers and then gloating.'
Peasants from Maharashtra's drought-affected Beed district feel the government machinery and politicians are indifferent to their plight.
From the Syrian civil war to the Ukrainian crisis to the terror unleashed by the dreaded Islamic State, there was no lack of news in 2014. In this five-part series,rediff.com presents a selection of the year's most enduring moments year from around the world.
Banning beef (and not cow) slaughter, not renewing education quota for Muslims. What next from the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, a ban on azaan, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
CLP saw early that the pollution caused by China's rush for industrial growth would lead inevitably to demands for cleaner electricity.
Thyrocare founder Arokiaswamy Velumani shares his success story with Anjuli Bhargava as he remembers the one person who stood by him through it all.
An industry of scamsters is operating in the guise of call centres in India.
In an online chat, overseas education consultant NNS Chandra shared career advice with readers.
Harassment, corruption and the burden of compound interest for years are also the reasons.
You won't regret including this list in your itinerary.
Ritu Jha/Rediff.com reports from California on the largest TieCon ever.
'Foreign policy-making cannot be shifted out of Delhi and the regional satraps, who do not have a national perspective, should not be allowed to dominate foreign policy. But regional inputs should be integral to foreign policy-making at every step of the way,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Shubir Rishi/Rediff.com continues his jungle adventure and narrates his day at the Kanha National Park.
